A woman was killed Saturday night when her SUV veered off a slick north Minneapolis highway and struck a tree, according to police.
Two other fatal crashes were reported early Sunday in Brainerd and north of Mantorville.
The woman killed Saturday, who's believed to be in her 30s, was traveling east on Hwy. 55 when the SUV she was driving left the road just west of N. Penn Avenue about 9:15 p.m., a police spokesman said.
The Nissan ran off the right side of the road, went across Penn Avenue, struck a fire hydrant and then a tree some distance away, said police spokesman John Elder.
She was pronounced dead at the scene, he said, and will be identified after an autopsy.
It was not clear whether rain-slick roads were a factor in the crash, and Elder said that police are awaiting toxicology reports to determine whether drugs or alcohol were involved.
On Sunday morning, a snowy and ice-covered Hwy. 210 was believed to be a factor in a fatal crash around 7:50 a.m. The Minnesota State Patrol reported Raymond Lawrence Nelson, 53, was driving a 1996 Mazda pickup when his truck left the highway and rolled into the south ditch.
Around noon Sunday, a fatal crash was reported north of Mantorville at the intersection of Hwy. 57 and County Road 16. Two people received minor injuries and another person died in the crash involving two vehicles, one of which rolled, according to dispatch audio.
The State Patrol had no further information on the victim, the survivors' injuries or whether road conditions were a factor.
libor.jany @startribune. com • 612-673-4064
kim.hyatt@startribune.com • 612-673-4751
